Halo Warhammer 40k crossover
by Soulful Plain Strider
Summary: Imagine what would happen if several UNSC and covenant ships somehow ended up in the 40k universe! Well lets find out.
1. Chapter 1: Above Reach

This is a cross over, of 'what if the battle of reach had gone differently and the Pillar of Autumn, along with several other UNSC as well as Covenant ships had become stranded in the warhammer 40k universe'  
I'll be looking forward to seeing any and all things all of you might have to say, say hit those review buttons.  
This first chapter lays out the actions above reach, differently from what has been told in 'The Fall of Reach' which is a great novel by the way, and, along with the next 2 chapters, sets the stage for the clash between the two universes.

enjoy

* * *

The Pillar of Autumn shook as a plasma torpedo impacted on its hull, burning through several layers of titanium-A armour.

"Cortana, report," Captain Keyes said.

"The Covenant cruisers have flanked us sir, I'm doing my best to give them as small a target as possible, but they're out manoeuvring us," came Cortana's reply.

"What about the Chief?" Keyes asked.

"He's already headed for the repair station, they should be landing about now," Cortana said.

"Good, status on the mac gun," Keyes asked.

"Fully charged," Lieutenant Hikowa replied.

"Target the port cruiser and fire," Keyes ordered.

"Aye," said Ensign Lovell as his fingers darted over the control panel.

The hull strained as the thrusters turned the ship around, this was soon followed by the triple shudders as the mac gun fired its three depleted uranium shells.

Keyes watched one of the view screens as the projectiles slammed into the Covenant cruiser. The first two were absorbed by the shields but the third slammed straight through the weakened shields and slammed into the cruiser's side, shearing it in two.

"Good shot, now lets deal with the other one," Keyes said.

"Yes sir, mac gun recharging, at 37 charge," Lieutenant Hikowa said.

"Cortana, dump energy from the engines to speed it up," Keyes ordered.

"Yes captain," there was a pause for a moment before Cortana said, "mac gun will be recharged in a few seconds."

"Good, now get me a firing solution on the second covenant ship," Keyes said.

"Plasma torpedo incoming!" another crewman reported.

"Decompress the main longsword bay, brace!" Keyes yelled, grabbing onto the arms of his seat.

Soon he felt the ship kick to the side as the explosive decompression pushed the ship over.

"We shouldn't have felt that," Keyes began.

"Sir, we're being drawn into Reach's gravity well," the crewman reported.

"Redline the engines, get us clear," Keyes ordered.

The Pillar of Autumn shook as it fought against the gravity of the planet, the hull whining as the 2 opposite momentums were being forced on it.

"We're clear," Cortana reported, "The plasma torpedoes seem to have dissipated in the upper atmosphere."

"Mac gun charged sir," Lieutenant Hikowa reported.

"Fire!" Keyes ordered.

The Pillar of Autumn shuddered as its mac gun fired, all three shots were absorbed by the cruiser's shields, and the crew watched as it launched a second pair of plasma torpedoes, which arced almost agonisingly slowly towards them.


	2. Chapter 2: Plasma&Slipstream:Disaster

Now lets get to the 40k universe in a spectacular explosion ... is there any other way?

* * *

A mac round tore through the cruiser, this was a single, larger round which compressed the nose of the ship, till it reached aft section, the massive compression buckled the ship's engines, causing it to explode, and the guidance system for the plasma to malfunction, and the torpedoes themselves to dissipate.

"Need a hand?" came over the com channel.

"Anytime, thank you captain," Keyes replied.

"Commander actually, our captain is dead," the voice said.

"My condolences, now lets deal with these zealot nuts," Keyes said.

"Agreed," the channel was closed and their saviour came into view as it passed in front of the view port, a frigate, it had suffered severe damage and much of the outer layers had been exposed to the vacuum of space.

"Sir, a communiqué from the chief, they say they've encountered heavy resistance but that they should be out of there in minutes," Cortana said.

"Good news at last," Keyes said. Then he turned his view screen to the rest of the covenant fleet, he caught the latest salvo of the orbital mac guns crush several smaller ships and 2 carriers. There were very few remaining UNSC ships though, they would have to retreat soon or the covenant fleet would overrun both them and Reach.

"Captain, we're receiving orders from the Admiral," Cortana said.

"Lets here it," Keyes said.

Suddenly static filled the bridge speakers, then I voice began to filter through, "… repeat, Reach has fallen, the orbiting mac guns have been lost, all ship's still able to, get out of …" Static took the signal again.

"The chief?" Keyes said.

"He called in a few moments ago, he's commandeered a pelican and is on his way back, along with his team mates and several marines who were still in the station," Cortana replied.

"Good, ensign, prepare to jump as soon as the chief is on board," Keyes tapped several controls, "Captain Keyes to any nearby ships, any ships still capable of slip space travel, prepare to jump, coordinates enclosed within this transmission," he closed the com., "Cortana, send them the coordinates."

"Yes captain," Cortana replied, her holographic projection shrinking away as her processing speeds increased.

"The pelican has docked sir, preparing to jump," Ensign Lovell reported.

"Good, lets give the Covenant bastards a goodbye present, Lieutenant, status on our mac gun," Keyes said.

"Fully charged sir," Lieutenant Hikowa reported.

"Slip space capacitors?" Keyes inquired.

"At 89, charging at a speed of 2 per second, sir," Ensign Lovell reported.

"Get me a firing solution on that covenant carrier, arm archer missile pods D1 – G7, I want our missiles hitting with the 3rd mac round," Keyes ordered.

"Yes sir," Lieutenant Hikowa replied, tapping on her console.

"Fire when ready," Keyes said, standing up and approaching the huge glass bay looking out over the battle scene over Reach. Then he saw the vapour trails of the archer missiles streaking towards the carrier, soon followed by the dull thuds as the mac gun fired.

"Several covenant warships are closing fast from behind, they must have made a precision slipspace jump," Cortana said.

"Get us out of here," Captain Keyes ordered.

"Yes sir," Ensign Lovell said, tapping commands on his console. The Pillar of Autumn began turning away from the battle of reach, along with several other UNSC ships that were following behind, most having been badly damaged already.

Keyes watched on one of the view screens as the first two mac rounds punched into the covenant ship's shields, it had launched a pair of plasma torpedoes in protest, which were now crawling over towards the Pillar of Autumn. As Keyes noted this the 3rd mac round struck, the shields flickered and died, allowing the momentum of the impact to transfer to the hull itself, smashing the flank inwards, the archer missiles struck moment later, small explosions flowering along the entire length of the ship. Secondary explosion began as a chain reaction started, the engines were soon enveloped in the explosion too, but just before the ship exploded, the plasma torpedoes filled the screen, as they began to dissipate, the control mechanism that had been guiding the plasma now gone. Just then the ships transitioned to slip space. However the disbanding plasma was sucked into the slipstream too.

"Sir, the field is becoming unstable, imminent danger," Cortana said.

"Suggestions?" Keyes asked.

"None sir," Cortana replied, "The stream is unstable, it's even pulling in the covenant ships behind us."

"We have no other choice," Keyes said resolutely.

As the ships disappeared into the slipstream, the hulls buckled under the stress of the partially collapsed slip space tunnel.


	3. Chapter 3: Covenant

I like the covenant when you see things from their perspective (of course there's nothing wrong with shooting their guts out of an assault rifle) but they give you something different from humans, so here's a little covenant thrown in.

* * *

"Shipmaster, we are trapped in a slip space tunnel of the humans' creating, we cannot withdraw, it is putting out enormous amount of energy," flight consul Reezo Rucarzomee said.

"Then we shall not cringe from this, it is a challenge we are intended to take," fleet commander Farnee Mukaromee said, "Fleet commander to all ships; forward, into the abyss."

"No this, is no test," a voice said from the shadows.

"Noble prophet of Faith, I beg, explain," Mukaromee asked.

"This is nothing more than a freak accident, it is _not_ destiny," the prophet of Faith said, hovering into view on his anti-gravatic chair.

"Then we must be prepared, for the Gods have not deemed us follow these humans, but we shall prevail over them no matter the circumstances," Mukaromee said, determination in his voice.

Kirap muttered inwardly as he slept, he was dreaming about his home world, where he could breathe free and open without these accursed rebreathers to supply him with precious methane, he remembered the open swamp land that his family had lived in. The small, single island in the greatest swamp of the planet that he had called his own, where he had gone and dreamed of travelling the stars, then he was brought quickly back to reality, his home world faded.

"Wake up now!" Kirap heard, followed by a sharp blow to his side, knocking him to the ground.

Kirap jumped to life quickly enough, jabbering incessant apologies for not listening. He looked up in the glaring eyes of sangheili, no doubt angry for having been forced to wait, or even more so for Kirap having been asleep in the first place.

"There is much work to be done," the sangheili said.

Kirap grunted and joined the ragged bunch of unggoy following behind, most drooping slightly, probably just woken up too. As they moved on Kirap sighed to himself, and a single thought prevailed through his mind.

_How could I ever have dreamt of leaving my home world for this?_


	4. Chapter 4: Another Universe

Ok i tried to increase the chapter length a little, i guarantee the next one will be longer, there'll be a lot to take care of, thanks to Riddlesindisguise and awilla the hun, and to awilla the hun, i was going to have this chapter as 3rd but i wanted to right a covenant perspective one first, so that explains why there was no 40k characters so far.  
Keep writing those reviews, looking forward to reading them

* * *

The Pillar of Autumn shook violently as the slip space tunnel collapsed. Spartan-117 had only just finished stowing his kit, when a huge jolt sent half his things tumbling out of place again. He looked over at his fellow Spartans in frustration who were having the same problem. There were four of them remaining, including him, the rest had been sent down to Reach to hold the generators for the super mac guns, dead now, for all he knew. Himself, Linda, Fred and Kelly were the only remaining Spartans. He resolved himself to promising that, where ever they were going, he would protect them, with his own life if necessary. The ship shuddered again, making him stumble and grab into a bulk head to keep his balance, bending the metal as he did so.

"What's going on?" the Master Chief asked, approaching the com panel.

"We're in trouble," Cortana said simply.

"I gathered that," John said, "But what is happening, have the covenant followed us?"

Cortana sighed before saying, "We're in an unstable slip space tunnel and we might end up getting crushed, anything else?" Cortana said.

"No," he said simply, brushing off Cortana's sarcasm.

"So what's going on?" Fred asked.

"In danger that we can't do anything about," John stated.

"So the same old song and dance?" Fred said.

"Yeah, but I want everyone ready to move, if we come out of this there may be Covenant waiting for us," John said.

The Spartans' fine hearing allowed all of them to hear the conversation and they started running diagnostic checks on their Mjolnir armour and selecting weapons from their personal armoury. Then there was the strongest shake of all, the ship practically listed ninety degrees, causing everything and everyone to slide to one side of the room.

"We have to get out of this," Captain Keyes said, getting up from his prone position.

"Agreed," Cortana said, "But we have no idea what will happen to the ship if we do."

"Anything is better than this," Keyes said as he gripped the arm of his chair while the ship shuddered more.

"How about being scattered across space in small metal chunks?" Ensign Lovell said.

"Did I ask your opinion ensign?" Keyes said.

Lovell fell silent.

"Cortana; do it," Keyes ordered.

There was a brief pause before Cortana's hologram appeared on her pedestal, "You realise the dangers?"

"I do," Keyes stated simply.

"Aye sir, deactivating slip space engines," Cortana said. Soon the ship began tremble, the hull groaned under the stress, it sounded like it was about to be torn apart at the seams. Keyes stood there, hands gripping a console to brace himself, and watched calculations and logistics run across the console, probably Cortana's calculations. Moments later there was only blackness.

Sergeant Diras calmly walked down a corridor, heading for his bunk room. He just finished up a round of drinks with his squad mates and was now struggling to stand up straight. Just then, the ship rocked as it was struck, the warning klaxons began blaring in his ears as he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"Captain Agros to all decks," the wall vox units blared into life, "We are under attack, I repeat we are under attack, xenos inbound."

_Well no shit_, Sergeant Diras thought to himself as he struggled back to his feet.

Captain Agros cursed under his breath, _how could such a large fleet have gone undetected by the sensors? _he thought.

"The fleet is moving into position to return fire," a servitor said, in its monotone voice.

"Captain Agros to all ships, fire at will!" he ordered, "Fire forward lances at the lead ship."

"Aye sir," one of the crewmen replied.

Captain Agros watched on one of his personal view screens surrounding him as a beam of energy coalesced into existence, slicing through space towards the nearest xeno ship, followed by two more beams, the three together managed to completely destroy the xeno ship, but three more smashed through the debris, charging their own weapons.

"Void shields up!" Agros shouted.

Just as he did the xeno ships returned fire, several torpedoes sped towards the view screen, till they collided with the void shields, activated just in time to avert a breach.

"Void shield 1 down," another servitor said.

Agros ignored it, having already sensed it through his direct link to the ship, he sucked in a breath as the second salvo of torpedoes struck, cutting through the second void shield and damaging the third.

"Our defences have been compromised, any nearby ships to our aid," Agros announced.

Immediately he registered three ships on his sensors, turning to intercept a third salvo of torpedoes, two though, were damaged, their shields unable to withstand the fire power, and began limping away.


	5. Chapter 5: Confusion

Well as i said, I've increased the chapter size, now we'll see how the 2 different 'galaxies' collide ... fun.  
I'm also assuming that the languages aren't an issue otherwise it would be too much extra which would just get in the way of the story.  
Keep those reviews coming.

* * *

_Am I dead?_ Captain Keyes thought to himself, he opened his eyes, but saw only blackness, he struggled to go through what had happened, all he remembered was giving the order to exit slipspace, and then everything had gone black. Then he saw a light, it was just to his side, he could see it in his peripheral vision, but it faded. Then another light appeared, it was bluer than the last, but it too faded. Keyes struggled to move, then he felt a pain in his arm, _good, it means I'm alive_, he thought. He got to his knees, then found something sturdy, allowing him to put his weight on it and hoist himself up. As he did, there was another flash of light, as he looked towards it, he realised it was coming from outside, _weapons fire?_ he thought.

"Anybody else conscious?" Keyes called out, his voice hoarse.

"Sir," someone groaned.

"Where are you?" Keyes said, feeling his way towards the voice.

"Over here sir, on the floor," the voice said.

"Just keep talking Dominique," Keyes said, as he identified the speaker, "Argh, what was that," he cried out.

"Me sir," Lieutenant Hikowa said, taking in a sharp breath.

"We need some lights," Keyes said, trying to get back up.

"No power sir," Lieutenant Hikowa said, tapping a control panel.

"If there's no power then what are we breathing?" Keyes said.

"Whatever's left," Lieutenant Hikowa mused.

"So how do you fix it?" Keyes asked.

"Well we'd have to get down to engine-…" Lieutenant Hikowa began before partial emergency lights dimly lit.

"Wha-?" Keyes said.

"I managed to re-couple the power conduit to the bridge," Cortana's voice said over the com, though he hologram didn't appear, "There's enough power for minimal lights and life support."

"And you," Lieutenant Dominique finished, being pulled by Keyes.

"And me," Cortana affirmed.

"But how did you do that if the power was down?" Keyes asked.

"There's still minor power in certain places in the ship, I simply existed in those places, using the power to reconnect the couplings, but to get ship wide power restored requires manual work," Cortana said.

"Does engineering have power?" Captain Keyes asked.

"Enough to survive," Cortana said.

"Well get them to start repairs, straight away," Keyes said.

"Aye sir," the speakers clicked as Cortana deactivated the com system.

"What's happening out there?" Lieutenant Hikowa indicated the still continuing flashes of light.

"Looks like a fight," Ensign Lovell groaned.

* * *

"Sir, new contacts, unknown classification," a servitor said.

"Why weren't they detected before?" Captain Agros shouted.

"They appeared from out of nowhere," the servitor said.

"They emerged from the warp?" Captain Agros said, trying to concentrate on keeping the ship alive at the same time, firing weapons at the most dangerous target and trying to keep the shields up and strong.

"No sir," the servitor stated simply.

"Then how …," Captain Agros began, before thinking to save that question for a better time, "Are they a threat?"

"No sir, they're without power," the servitor said.

"Derelicts?" Captain Agros inquired.

"No sir, there are life signs, but there seem to be residual energy fields in that area, I am unable to discern what type," the servitor said.

"They can wait," Captain Agros said, refocusing his attentions on the fight. Both sides had suffered harshly, there were only about a dozen ships on each side, both sides fairly even in power, Captain Agros' battle ship was the only heavy ship in his fleet left.

* * *

John-117 opened his eyes, there was minimal lighting and everything appeared upside-down. Then Kelly walked up to him and grab his arm, pulling him upright so that everything was the right way up.

"This is no time to nap now sir," Kelly giggled.

"Wouldn't dream of it," John replied, "What happened, are we under attack?"

"I don't know sir," Linda said, "The com system is dead, everything except the lights are dead."

"Life support?" John asked, suffocation was not a way he expected to die.

"Working," Linda said.

John breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Suddenly there were several beeps and the lights turned out, a few seconds later normal lighting flared into light, as well as the com panel.

"What happened?" John asked.

"Don't know just now," Keyes said, "Perhaps Cortana can explain later, but right now we have to figure out what to do."

"So what's the situation?" Fred asked, picking himself up.

"Same as always," John replied.

"So any chance of a little ground action?" Fred asked.

"You never know," John said.

"Good, I was getting bored," Fred picked up his kit, pleased with himself that it was still perfectly stored despite all the shaking around that had tossed the rest of them about.

* * *

"We have a problem sir," the servitor said.

"Spit it out!" Captain Agros said, _more_ problems were the last thing he needed.

"One of the unknowns has regained power," the servitor said.

"Can you get anything from it?" Captain Agros said.

"Not at the mo- … wait another one had regained power, and anoth- no wait two, three, they're all activating," the servitor said.

_Emperor guide us_, Captain Agros thought.

"Sir, the ships seem to be firing at each other," a crewman said.

"What?" Captain Agros said, unable to believe his ears, he instead checked his sensors to confirm this, indeed the mass of ships had broken into 2 groups and had begun exchanging fire.

* * *

"Open communications. This is ethereal Auth'Rel, please identify yourselves," the ethereal said.

"This is ship master Farnee Mukaromee we-" before the ship master could continue, a hand appeared in front of him on the view screen. An old, frail looking being slid into view, held up by a suspended chair.

"I am the prophet of Faith, we are the covenant, the instruments of the Gods, and have been given the holy mission of cleansing the human filth from their galaxy," the prophet said.

"You too oppose the humans?" Auth'Rel said, after a few moments in silent thought, he said "We have never seen the likes of your species, however, we would like to discuss combining of our efforts for the benefit of the Greater Good."

The ethereal watched as the prophet conferred with the one that had introduced itself as the ship captain.

After a few moments, the prophet turned back and said, "We shall consider your words and …" the communication was cut off before the prophet could finish.

"What happened?" the ethereal almost shouted.

"Their ship is under attack," a pilot of the air caste said.

"We must aid them …" the ethereal said, before their ship shook violently.

"The imperials have redoubled their efforts, they must have detected our communications," another pilot said.

"We must fall back and regroup ethereal Auth'Rel," the commander said.

"I agree, inform the … _covenant_, ship that we are falling back and we ask for them to follow us," the ethereal said.

"They say you do not wish to retreat," the communications officer said.

"Inform them that if they stay, the Imperial fleet will destroy them," the ethereal said.

"… They are following," the communications officer said after a moment.

"Good," the pilot said, "Get us back to t'au so negotiations may begin."

"Yes commander," the pilot said.

The tau ships turned and began disengaging from the Imperial ships, while the covenant backed away from the UNSC ships, like a cornered predator limping away from a fight.

* * *

"Half of the new ships are retreating with the tau fleet," the servitor said.

"I see them," Captain Agros spat, "Fire all forward lances at them."

Captain Agros watched as his weapons charged and fired. Three beams of energy sped towards the covenant ships, each striking a different ship. The covenant ships' shields flared into life, absorbing the lance strikes.

"Impossible, how can they absorb so much energy," Captain Agros said.

In a few moments though, the shimmering silver of 2 of the shields disappeared though and the lances sliced straight through the covenant ships, bisecting them, while the third ship continued to absorb the lance, until the beam faltered and finally failed.

"Lance number 2 has overheated," another servitor said.

Captain Agros simply watched in frustration as the covenant carrier continued backing away, but before it turned around, it collided with three projectiles, fired from the other group of ships. Projectiles collapsed the weakened shields and smashed into the carrier, smashing it into three sections, all having been crushed by the momentum by the 1st mac round.


	6. Chapter 6: Humans & Humans

Well lets see whats happening on the human side, eh?  
And to Empress of Muffins and anyone else that might be wondering about the tau/covenant alliance, they're quite similar in certain ways when you think about it, and there's also another reason which will be revealed in a few chapters time.  
Thanks for the reviews and keep on reading.

* * *

"Good shot Lieutenant," Captain Keyes said.

"Thank you sir," Lieutenant Hikowa said.

"The rest of the Covenant ships are retreating, along with half the unknown ships," Cortana reported.

"Now, lets see about these other ships, they haven't run or fired on us, so they must be trying to figure us out first," Captain Keyes said, looking at the scan data scrolling across one of the screens.

"They appear to be initiating concentrated scans on us and the rest of the _fleet_," Cortana said this last word with a hint of sarcasm, as the surviving fleet consisted of themselves and six others.

"Well lets not keep them waiting, send them a communiqué Lieutenant Dominique," Keyes said.

"Yes sir, attempting, to find a frequency they will respond to … there, go ahead," Dominique said.

Keyes took a deep breath before speaking, "This is Captain Keyes of the UNSC ship, Pillar of Autumn to the unknown vessels, please identify yourselves."

Keyes almost fell off his chair when a view screen lit up and he saw who, or what, was on one of the other ships.

* * *

_Humans? Impossible,_ Captain Agros thought, then said to the man on screen, "This is Captain Agros of the Imperial battleship _Emperor's Fury_."

Keyes couldn't believe what he was seeing, the man was clearly human, but only some of him remained that was flesh and blood, the rest seemed to be metal implants and bionics.

"What is that?" Ensign Lovell whispered.

"Quiet," Lieutenant Hikowa hissed.

"Quiet both of you," Keyes said, "I apologise for my crewmen, they have never, indeed neither have I, seen such a … an … altered human."

Captain Agros waved his hand dismissively, "In that case you must indeed be young blood, but there are many captains who have gone even further, so far as to completely join with their ships, now, as to the current situation …"

"Indeed?" Keyes said questioningly, "First we would like to know who controls the other ships that ran off with the Covenant ships."

"You are not in a position to demand answers captain, you are out-manned and out-gunned, and I do not trust you," Captain Agros said threateningly.

"Captain, multiple lock ons, their weapons would tear us apart," Cortana said.

Keyes remained calm, "It seems you have us at a disadvantage Captain."

"Now, the ships that appeared along with your own, these _Covenant_ you spoke of," Captain Agros said.

"It's a long story," Keyes said.

"We have time," Captain Agros said, annoyed.

"Perhaps this would be better explained face to face?" Keyes suggested.

"Very well Captain, I expect you on my ship in fifteen minutes; and with minimal escort," Captain Agros said, before terminating communications.

"Pushy ain't here," Ensign Lovell said.

"Are we going then?" Lieutenant Dominique asked.

"Do we have a choice," Keyes said, it wasn't a question, "But you're not going, someone has to keep an eye on the ship."

"You're not going alone sir?" Lieutenant Hikowa blurted out.

"Indeed not, but he said minimal escort, and I intend to take as few people as necessary," Keyes said in thought, "Tell someone to get a pelican ready in five minutes."

With that, Keyes walked out of the room.

* * *

Spartan-117 was servicing his MA5B assault rifle when Captain Keyes walked in. He stood to attention ad barked, "Captain on deck!" before snapping off a crisp salute, along with his other Spartans who followed suit.

"At ease," Keyes said, before approaching John, "I have a mission for you."

"Glad to hear it sir," John said.

"You've been monitoring communications I take it," Keyes said.

"Yes sir," John replied simply.

"Good, then you probably know what I'm here to ask you for," Keyes said.

"Sir, you want us to escort you sir," John said.

Keyes nodded.

"Yes sir," John said, turning his head, "Fred, gather some we- …"

Keyes put a hand on John shoulder plate, "No, this is going to be an escort of one."

"Sir?" John said, confused.

"Your Spartans are the best for the job, anyone can see that, but we have no idea how the sight of you will provoke them, now imagine the sight of 4 of you, that's more danger than necessary," Keyes said.

John nodded in understanding and went himself to grab his assault rifle.

"And minimal armaments, just the basics," Keyes said.

"Yes sir," John said, also holstering his pistol but refrained from picking up some grenades. With that, he followed the Captain out and to the shuttle bay, where they boarded the waiting pelican and flew out to meet the waiting battleship.

* * *

Sergeant Diras stood waiting on the landing bay floor. The transport which had arrived from the unknowns' apparent capital ship had settled down and a ramp was lowering. Diras hefted his combat shotgun and carefully aimed it at the opening ramp. A figure stepped into view. Diras gasped and almost dropped his shotgun, he was looking at a space marine, decked out in layered armour with a black under layer and green plating on top, but the helmet, unlike vids of space marines he'd seen, this one's helmet had a yellow face plate which hid the face behind it, unlike the eye slits and incorporated rebreather he'd seen on space marine helmets. The space marine also held a weapon he'd never seen before, it looked like machine gun, not unlike a bolter but more akin to a stubber in its apparent design.

The space marine proceeded to scan the area, swivelling his weapon around to take in the entirety of the docking bay, as well as Sergeant Diras and his team before lowering his weapon and turning and nodding to someone else in the transport. From behind emerged a normal human who he assumed was the captain because of the respect the space marine showed him, which in itself was unusual.

"Captain I assume?" Sergeant Diras asked, approaching Keyes.

"You would assume correct, I suppose you're here to take me to your captain?" Keyes asked.

"Yes sir, if you will follow me," Diras said, waving his men in around the two newcomers.

The space marine looked around ones more, then nodded to the Captain who said something he didn't catch. Diras ignored this and began leading the way to the bridge, where his Captain was waiting.

* * *

John shifted in his armour nervously. He was alone as a single escort for his Captain on what could possibly be an enemy ship, surrounded by people who could turn out to be hostiles. Captain Keyes had warned him to keep an eye out and that's exactly what he intended to do. As they proceeded down corridors, he made a mental note of each turn in case they needed to escape. He also sized up the escort, 5 men, each carrying what looked like a pump action shotgun, and all wearing minimal armour which looked like it wouldn't be able to withstand a sustained burst of MA5B fire. Nonetheless, his priority was Keyes' life, which means he would probably use his body to shield the captain. He judged that his armour could withstand 2, maybe even 3 direct hits but anymore and his shield would probably collapse and his armour shredded. Therefore, he would need to take out at least 2 of them before they could react. With a warning he thought it would be possible, but it would be hard.

By this time they had reached what appeared to be the bridge of this overly large ship, before them stood the semi-mechanical form of the ship's captain, John noticed that both legs and one arm were bionics, as well as one eye and a chest plate. Then he calculated the chances of him breaking one of these with some automatic fire and didn't like the results, and made a mental note to aim for the head if force was required.

* * *

Captain Agros watched as the Captain he had spoke to walked onto the bridge, along with what appeared to be a space marine, but after a quick study of the armour it was wearing, decided it was more likely an imitation of a space marine, maybe even designed to try and intimidate, _well it wont work_, Captain Agros thought to himself.

"Captain Keyes," Agros said.

"Captain Agros," Keyes nodded with respect, "This is Spartan-117," Keyes said after seeing Agros' attention shift to John.

_So he is not trying to pass this off as a space marine, interesting_, Captain Agros thought.


	7. Chapter 7: Xenos & Aliens

I apologise for the short chapter but i needed a sort of transitionary scene for this end of things so that I could introduce the tau commander as well as make sure both sides are set for 'negotiations'.

* * *

Kirap dragged his arms behind him as he walked down another long corridor, he'd just completed several cycles of continues work and was ready to get some sleep, he was too tired to even think about getting some nourishment for his aching muscles.

As he entered the methane filed room that was his barracks, he pulled off his rebreather and breathed in a lung full of fresh methane, or at least methane that hadn't been recycled as much as what his personal tank had been filled with. Kirap was about to sit down when he heard someone behind him.

He jumped as it shouted, "Oy you, you still owe me, you lost the bet, now pay up."

Kirap groaned, the annoying Ungoy had been trying to collect off him for many cycles, since before their last battle, despite his insistence that the bet had been fixed. Kirap dismissed the ranting disturbance and tried to settle to sleep before he was grabbed by the shoulder and yanked around.

"Hey, I'm talkin' to you," the Ungoy said, though it all seemed rather humorous.

"You don't expect me to pay now, I just been run ragged by our masters, I want some sleep," Kirap said.

"I don't care, you ow me," the angry Ungoy said.

Kirap shrugged off the grip and sat himself down again, hoping that this would be taken as a sign that he wasn't going to pay up now, and he'd finally be able to get some sleep.

* * *

"Ethereal Auth'Rel, is it really wise to allow this aliens to see our most guarded planet of T'au? We have no idea where they're real allegiances lie," Commander Fairmoon said.

"Indeed, your caution is well warranted pure one, however I do not believe they shall turn on us. I know about your distrust for aliens, you even are distanced from out kroot and vespid allies, refusing their services in your cadre despite the insistence of your superiors," Ethereal Auth'Rel said, "However, you must trust that what I do, is for the Greater Good.

"Yes of course Ethereal, for the Greater Good …" before Commander Fairmoon could continue though, a member of the water caste who was being escorted by the fleet entered.

"Ethereal Auth'Rel, Commander Fairmoon, forgive my disturbing you, but the aliens have requested and audience with you Ethereal," the water caste member said, "I tried to explain that I was a diplomat, but they insisted Ethereal."

"Very well, inform them I shall be there momentarily," Ethereal Auth'Rel said.

* * *

"Noble prophet of Faith, we are receiving a response," said Farnee Mukaromee.

"Excellent, ship master, please continue," the prophet of Faith said.

"Greeting prophet, you wished to speak to me?" Ethereal Auth'Rel said, appearing on a view screen.

The prophet motioned to calm the ship master despite the breach of protocol in not addressing the prophet by its full honorific, "Ethereal, I wish to know more about our destination and what we will be required to do once we reach it."

"Very well," the Ethereal said, "We are taking you to our home planet of T'au, where we wish to … _exchange_, information."

"I see," the prophet of Faith said, "And is this exchange … one way?"

"Not at all, there shall be a; how shall I say, give and take. When you _give_ us some information of your own, you may _take_ some information of out own," the Ethereal said.

The prophet though about this for a moment, "Very well, how much longer till we reach our destination?"


	8. Chapter 8: Lines Drawn

Sorry to everyone that's been reading this, my exams came and after that it took me a little while to get back to writing, but the story's back now.  
Also, a little something for my friends of the 29th Cadian ;)  
Enjoy

* * *

"I do not believe a word you say," Captain Agros said, threateningly.

"And I have as little reason to believe you," Captain Keyes retorted.

"For all I know, you're infected by the taint of chaos," Captain Agros said.

"I told you," Keyes sighed, "The covenant are our only enemy, I don't even know who or what this dam chaos is."

"Then your ignorance is greater than I anticipated," Agros huffed, "You venture here without preparing yourself against the taint."

"I didn't choose to come here," Keyes was becoming impatient.

"Right, the odd warp occurrence you spoke of," Agros said.

"Warp? We were nearly crushed in slip space," Keyes said.

"Slip space?" Agros questioned.

"It looks like you're the ignorant one now," Keyes said, smugly.

"Do not dare to insult me," Agros glared at Keyes, he'd had enough, "You are to accompany us to the closest forge world, where the tech priests will be able to study your ships and your technologies in full."

"And if I refuse," Keyes asked matter of factly.

"We shall destroy your ships in the blink of an eye," Agros said.

"Just thought I'd ask," Keyes shrugged, and turned to walk out.

"A moment," Agros said, Keyes turned around before Agros continued, "If you think to run, know this, the Imperium is vast, its fleets huge, we would hunt you down quicker than you could betray us."

Without saying a word, Keyes turned back around and headed off, John right behind him.

_Indolent worm,_ Captain Agros thought as he watched Keyes walk away.

_Arrogant arse_, Keyes thought as he walked off.

* * *

John had been ready to act at a moments notice as he had watched the 2 captains argue. A single false move and he would have shielded Keyes while killing the closest contacts, but he felt lucky this one time that fighting hadn't been the outcome, as he wasn't sure he would have been able to ensure the captain's safety, or his own for that matter. Now that they were back on their pelican and heading out though, he breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Not very goodly people are they," Keyes said after a few moments silence.

"They are very stubborn," John observed.

"Indeed, we both have no way of explaining what happened and our opinions are quite different," Keyes continued, "Maybe there is some truth to what he's saying, maybe not, I only hope we can figure all this out and somehow get home."

"Maybe not sir," John felt uncomfortable, realising he'd spoken out of turn.

"How do you see that?" Keyes asked confused.

"Sir, the covenant are here, we've drawn away a sizable amount of their fleet that had been over Reach. Now, it should be our priority to destroy them, ensuring that they can not return to threaten us again," John said, figuring out some of what he was saying as he went along.

"How do you suggest we do that?" Keyes questioned, "We are vastly outnumbered. We have the covenant beat when we greatly outnumber them, not the other way around."

"Allies, sir," John stated simply.

"Allies?" Keyes sounded a little shocked.

"These … other humans, though our opinions differ, we now share the same enemy, seeing as the covenant ships apparently disappeared with their own enemies, we should combine our efforts to destroying them," John said.

"My, my, you are keeping your self informed," Keyes said.

"It is my duty, sir," John stated.

"Well it may be a little difficult to make _them_ see that," Keyes jerked his thumb behind him, at the vessel they'd just left.

"Yes, quite, I think it might be best if we went along with their demands; for the moment," John said.

"Perhaps so …" Keyes didn't like the idea but it was probably their only options.

* * *

As soon as they were back aboard the Pillar of Autumn, Captain Keyes keyed the bridge channel, "Ensign Lovell, link up with the other human ships and follow along with them, looks like we're hitching a ride."

"Yes sir," came Lovell's reply.

"Your mission cam was recording I take it?" Keyes asked.

"Yes sir," John replied.

"Good, you and your team study it well, analyse weapons, armour, ship layout, anything that might be useful and prepare for the worst, there's no telling what might happen if things go bad. It's quite a responsibility …" Keyes said.

"Sir, we are Spartans, we always prepare for the worst," John said.

"Good," Keyes said before heading for the main elevator to take him back to the bridge.

John keyed his squad channel, "Blue team, prepare for mission briefing."

"Understood sir," came Linda's reply, "Everyone's already training."

"If I may ask, sir," that was Kelly, "What's the mission?"

"Accomplishing the impossible," John said.

"Same old, eh?" she replied.

"Exactly, I'm bringing a recording of my time on that ship, we're to study and learn from that," John said, all acknowledgement lights blinked in his hud as they affirmed his orders.

* * *

Sergeant Diras kicked hard, sending his opponent sprawling to the ground, but he was tackled from behind. As he fell, he saw a flash of light, that of a las beam which caught his attacker in the side and knocked him back. Diras swung round and levelled a punch to his new opponent's midriff, causing him to double over, winded. He then ducked, this motion was accompanied by several more las beams, the combined impact of which, knocked the enemy to the ground. Diras offered a silent thanks to his squad mates lying in cover. He withdrew something from his belt, lifting it over his opponent, he knew this was the last one, all the others had been taken care of. He painted his opponent with a marker and shouted, "Last one neutralised!"  
He then offered a hand to the 'dead' soldier, lifting him to his feet, "You're getting quieter there, I didn't hear you till you were only a few steps away."

"Awe sarge, I thought this time I managed to catch you out completely," the man said.

Diras chuckled, "Thanks for the covering fire Siros, Aurzel here almost had me!"

"No problem sarge, I was actually aiming for you," Siros replied.

There was a small amount of laughter before Aurzel shouted out, "Invictus, where'd you get to?"

There was a groan nearby followed by several foul words, "Your legs healed up nicely from the last time sarge."

"At least this time I didn't break anything, how about you?" Diras couldn't help but laugh.

"Only my pride sir," Invictus said, finally getting to his feet.

* * *

Major Grade Brostin sat quietly in his office, paper work wasn't his best thing when he hear someone clearing his throat at the door.

"Commissar," Grade said getting up from his desk.

"Major," the commissar said, nodding his head, "Is this a bad time?"

"Not at all," Grade said, "May I offer you a drink? I could use a bit of a break anyway."

"I wouldn't say no," the commissar said, "After all pushing these new recruits around can be tiring."

"I thought Sturm was doing a fine job at that," Grade laughed while picking up two shot glasses.

"Indeed he is but I still have to watch them, and you know what a handful they are," the commissar laughed too.

"So what's on your mind Reynolds?" Grade asked, giving him a drink.

"Do I need a reason to pay you a visit? You've been locked up in your office for days now, that's highly unusual for you," Commissar James Tibrius Reynolds said.

"Yes, we've received some disturbing news from a nearby planet, they may be sending us there sooner than we expected," Grade said.

"Hmmm, that may be trouble, we still haven't recovered fully from our last mission," Reynolds said.

"I know that, but they're quite adamant, they want the 29th Cadian on this," Grade said.

"Well it's nice to feel wanted," Reynolds smirked.

"Yes well, we'll have to make sure the men are up to it," Grade said.

"And women," Reynolds added.

"Yes they'll never let that down, so I suppose we should start correcting ourselves too," Grade chuckled at the thought.

"Am I disturbing anything?" came another voice at the door.

"Not at all, we were just having a friendly chat," Grade said.

"Oh good I could use a break," the new arrival said, slumping in a chair.

"What did they do this time Torch?" Grade asked.

"Either they're going to blow the mess tent up for its terrible food or Sturm's room because he's really making himself unpopular, either way I think I'll join them," Major Thomas 'Torch' Irving laughed.

Reynolds put a hand to his bolt pistol in case they were serious this time.

"Like I said, I could use a break," Grade said, downing his drink. He got up and walked out, accompanied by Reynolds and Torch, who helped himself to Reynolds' untouched drink.


End file.
